I know this means I have now been to Barcelona three times in my life, but my mom really wanted to go, so here I go again::
This time, I flew to Barcelona. Mom and I left Madrid on a flight at 3 pm on Thursday, and got to our hotel by around 6 pm. It was a very confusing journey from the airport, taking an airport shuttle, walking, using the commuter train, walking, walking in the rain, and then finally arriving. Even though we had both been very hungry and hadn't eaten lunch, we slept until dinner. For dinner, we wandered onto Las Ramblas, the main drag in Barcelona, and ate at the restaurant of a hotel. Pizza and salad, followed by ice cream at a nearby shop. Then we walked Las Ramblas. Mom was truly amazing by how bustling and busy it was at night around 10 pm, and I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful buildings at night, which I didn't get to do in September.
On Friday, we got an early start, and headed to La Boqueria. We had a breakfast of assorted fruit, and headed back down Las Ramblas. I let my mom handle the picture taking for all of our trips together, and they started down at the monument to Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón, as he is called over here in Spain). According to my waiter in Valencia, he is pointing toward the Americas, but to me, it looked more like Africa. I am going to have to check that out, since I didn't really have anyway to confirm it. From there, we walked along the bay, and then stopped into a cafe. We were very lucky because it began to pour just minutes after we sat down. Mom had coffee, I had peach juice, and we split a pastry. After a little while, the rain had let up, and we headed back out. We walked to a church that Mom had read about, called Santa María del Mar. It was very beautiful, and I liked that its small side chapels were very simple, and not gated off. We wandered a bit in the gothic neighborhood, and then went to the Museo Picasso. I went there back in 8th grade, but all I really remembered was that we couldn't take pictures and that Picasso had a blue period like Van Gogh. So we stood in line, and got to see Picasso's works from childhood to about halfway through his adult life. I had already seen a lot of his later works in Reina Sofia, and Mom is planned to go when we were in Madrid again. I really enjoyed seeing his work again, because I don't think it really meant too much to me as a 13-year-old.
For lunch, we met my friend Ana at Bo de B for lunch. That is the salad/sandwich place I spoke so highly of in my post from my last Barcelona trip, where we went twice. It was just as delicious the third time around as it was the times before. It was nice to see Ana again, even though she had to leave us after lunch to study for her upcoming midterms. After lunch, my Mom and I headed up Via Laietana to the Catedral. Since I had a jacket on, I was allowed in this time (I wasn't in September). It was very similar to the Cathedral in Salamanca, but very beautiful. There was even a capilla(chapel) for the Sacred Heart of Jesus! When we went into the courtyard, I remembered that it was where I had taken a picture of snow on palm trees 6 years previously. I don't remember a lot of that trip, because it happened so fast, but it feels great when memories just pop back into my mind like that. After the Catedral, we went to find the bar/cafe that Picasso used to frequent with other young artists while he lived in Barcelona. It's now a fancy restaurant, but we took some good pictures :) Then we did some shopping on the way back to our hotel. Following a brief nap, we went to dinner at a restaurant at the far end of Las Ramblas. There is a whole section that offers deals of tapas and paella/pasta/pizza. We got three tapas "de la casa", paella mixta, and a pitcher of sangria. It was a very nice dinner, and a pretty good price. We of course finished our meal off with ice cream again, but from a different place.
Saturday, our last day, we started out early. We had breakfast in a little cafe near the Universitat metro station before heading to La Sagrada Familia. I was very excited to return to this place, because it was one of my favorites when I visited Barcelona for the first time. Unfortunately, the lifts were closed due to weather concerned (though it didn't rain all day) so we couldn't go up the towers. But just visiting La Sagrada Familia is worth the money. Gaudi is definitely my favorite architect of all time, and it was amazing to see the progress they had made on his great unfinished work in just 6 short years. So much more was complete, and I cannot wait to compare my pictures from 6 years ago to the pictures my Mom took this weekend and see the true progress. I definitely plan on going back when it is completed, which should be by 2030, to see it completed. It's hard to describe it, and how amazing and awe-inspiring it is. The pictures my Mom took can't even begin to capture it, but they are the best explanation I have.
We headed to Passeig de Gracia, to visit one of Gaudi's many apartment building and private homes built there. Before going anywhere, we stopped for bocadillos and soda for lunch. Originally we were going to go to La Pedrera, which I had visited 6 years previous, but it was quite expensive, and one of the workers said parts might close due to the rain. Instead, we headed up the road to Casa Batlló, which was also a bit expensive, but definitely worth the price. The included audioguide was very informative, and helped me to understand just how thoroughly thought-out Gaudi's designs were. Every detail was completely planned, and every possible use of natural light was exploited. At every turn, Gaudi amazed me with his intelligence and environmental foresight. It is definitely something that cannot be missed when travelling to Barcelona. After Casa Batlló, we jumped on the metro to go see the Arc de Triomf. It is not the largest most famous one, but I like it just the same. It was good picture-taking weather, so Mom went crazy. Then we walked back to the hotel to get ready to go to the airport. The trip to the airport went much better, though we did encounter some turbulence on our routine flight.
I enjoyed this trip to Barcelona just as much as I enjoyed the last two. I never did the same thing twice in the same way (except eating at Bo de B), and each time I got to discover the city with new people. Seeing the city through new eyes each time was amazing. A lot has changed about me since 8th grade, and since September too. I know that I will be returning to Barcelona some time in the future, so just like every other time, my goodbye is not forever, just for now.
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